Knowledge is Power

After my first son was born, I began to think about what the next phase of our lives looked like. We went from two busy professionals who could hop on a plane for a weekend trip, grab dinner, or chase endless weekend adventures to first time parents. We were 2,000 miles away from family trying to plan the one or two trips a year that we could see them which led me to ask this question, how many summers do we have left?

Our humans are brains are instinctively wired to prioritize immediate needs and wants, such as quenching hunger, ensuring safety, or yielding to the allure of instant gratification. This is a survival mechanism that has evolved over tens of thousands of years to help us respond to threats, opportunities, and ultimate survival. However, this tendency to emphasize the short term can be counterproductive and have a detrimental effect when it comes to planning and our financial success.

“Hey, do you want to grab onto the kayak?” These words echoed in my ears as I struggled through the swim portion of my first Olympic distance triathlon. There I was floundering in the water, struggling to breathe, and flopping between a bad backstroke and freestyle.  I lifted my head and painfully realized I was the last one in the lake.

Investing can be an emotional roller coaster, with the excitement of portfolio growth followed by the panic of market downturns. This emotional ride is rooted in the experience of loss aversion, a psychological principle suggesting the pain felt from financial loss is twice as potent as the pleasure experienced from a similar gain. However, it's crucial to recognize that allowing our emotions to guide our investment decisions can lead to irrational choices.